In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, residents in Houston struggle with flooding on August 27, 2017. Climate change is intensifying storms and flooding, with grave consequences. (Photo credit: Thomas B. Shea/AFP/Getty Images)

Menlo Park, Calif.―The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation announced today that it will donate $600 million over a five-year period from 2018-2023 to nonprofits globally working on solving climate change.

The pledge comes on the eve of President Macron’s December 12 convening of global government, business, and philanthropic sector leaders, one goal of which is to enlist private and public financing for the worldwide effort to implement the Paris agreement. The Hewlett Foundation plans to participate in this Summit and in efforts to increase charity funding for climate solutions globally.

The Hewlett Foundation, a nonpartisan private charitable foundation founded by the legendary Silicon Valley engineer and entrepreneur Bill Hewlett, has also concentrated its resources in improving education, alleviating global poverty, supporting the performing arts and preserving the environment in the North American West. Its climate pledge is the single largest funding commitment made in the foundation’s 51-year history, and represents a 20 percent increase in its climate-related charitable donations.

“Huge numbers of people are already suffering from climate change from unprecedented flooding, superstorms, drought, famine, wildfires, and pest-borne disease – and this is just a fraction of what our children and grandchildren will suffer if we don’t get this under control,” said William and Flora Hewlett Foundation President Larry Kramer. “The world has made incredible progress in recent years, in ways that both mitigate warming and generate new economic opportunities. But we still have a long way to go. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is proud to increase its commitment to creating a clean energy system, and we urge all leaders – whether in philanthropy, business, or government – to step up to this challenge and increase their own commitments to solving climate change. Everyone must find their role in the solution—our future depends on it.”

Added Jonathan Pershing, Environment Program Director at the Hewlett Foundation and former US Special Envoy for Climate Change: “Our ability to meet the climate challenge with ingenuity, innovation, and enterprise will determine the safety, health, and livelihoods of people around the world. We urge fellow philanthropists and global leaders to join in our commitment to do more on climate change. We are also challenging all leaders to think long-term and make forward-looking decisions to support lasting energy transformations, and look forward to using our own charitable funds to help catalyze the necessary global change to solve this urgent problem. There’s no doubt that the world has the technology and the ability to solve this problem; what we need is greater commitment and resolve.”

The Hewlett Foundation’s charitable donations will support nonpartisan, non-profit organizations working on transitioning energy systems from fossil fuels to clean energy, with the goal of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius by 2050 and avoiding unprecedented, widespread human suffering. The foundation’s donations will be focused in the biggest emitting countries and regions of the world: the United States, China, India, and Europe, supporting organizations that: conduct scientific research and policy analysis, offer policy makers much-needed technical expertise on energy systems and transitions, advocate on behalf of a wide range of communities and constituencies, promote private-public partnerships to achieve national and state clean energy goals, and convene leaders through best-practice and expertise-sharing networks in these geographies. The foundation will also look to support organizations that are integrating solutions across sectors to overcome our long-term energy challenges, as well as organizations fostering public-private partnerships to finance clean energy systems, and encouraging private investment for the commercial deployment of viable new technologies.

About the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a nonpartisan, private charitable foundation that advances ideas and supports institutions to promote a better world. For more than 50 years, the foundation has supported efforts to advance education for all, preserve the environment, improve lives and livelihoods in developing countries, promote the health and economic well-being of women, support vibrant performing arts, strengthen Bay Area communities and make the philanthropy sector more effective. Online at www.hewlett.org.